Fluentum gGmbH

Fluentum is a nonprofit, privately run institution dedicated to exhibiting, producing, and collecting contemporary art, with a special focus on time-based media such as film and video. An initiative of Berlin-based entrepreneur and collector Markus Hannebauer, Fluentum opened its exhibition space in a former military complex in Berlin in 2019. Fluentum’s aim is to elucidate the moving image’s aesthetic, political, and historical dimensions for a public audience. At the center of its biannual group and solo exhibitions is the realization of new works, which artists develop by Fluentum’s invitation. These works receive their first public presentation at our institution. The exhibitions are complemented by an extensive program of guided tours, artist talks, screenings, and publications, allowing for the exhibition’s content to be extensively explored and discursively expanded. To facilitate accessibility, admission to all exhibitions and events is free of charge. One of Fluentum’s further priorities is the support of independent artistic practices primarily through funding both artistic productions and external exhibitions. Creating visibility for Berlin-based artists is a special focus of Fluentum’s work. Berlin is unique among cities in the wide-ranging opportunities it offers for the local production of artworks and Fluentum strives to broadly reflect this extraordinary situation in its programming of exhibitions, publications, and new productions. The Fluentum collection, founded in 2010 by Markus Hannebauer, purchases, archives, and maintains select works of time-based art. Its holdings currently include works by more than sixty artists, representing a range of methods, strategies, and manifestations related to the moving image—from documentary approaches to works immersed in realism to associative experimental films, conceptual video works, and feature-length films. A common thread running through many of the collection’s works is an interest in considering historical material within a contemporary social context and the question of media’s transformation of storytelling. A selection of the works is presented as part of Fluentum’s exhibition program. Upon request, the works in the collection are also made available for external exhibitions and research.